Kenya’s economic performance in 2025 remained on a steady footing despite mixed signals from the overall growth figures, with the government pointing to strong rebounds in several key sectors as evidence of a more stable economic direction.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said data contained in the latest report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that while headline growth eased slightly, underlying activity in major sectors improved compared to 2024.
He said the economy showed better balance in 2025, noting that sector-level performance painted a stronger picture than the small dip in overall growth.
“The broader lens of KNBS’ 2026 Economic Survey shows that the economic performance of 2025 was better than 2024, demonstrated significant resilience despite multiple shocks,” Mbadi said.
Mbadi pointed to the construction industry as one of the clearest signs of recovery, saying it moved from contraction in the previous year to solid growth.
“In 2024 we had the construction sector, which grew quite negative, but others have now picked up to over 6% if you look at the data,” he explained.
He also cited mining and quarrying as another sector that recorded a sharp turnaround after a difficult performance in 2024.
“The other sector that contracted was mining and quarrying, which had a negative growth in 2024 of 7.8%. It has rebounded to 14.9%,” he said.
According to Mbadi, such recoveries across key areas indicate that the economy in 2025 was in a stronger position compared to the previous year, even though the overall growth rate showed a slight decline.
“So if you look at all this, the economic performance of 2025 was much better than 2024, even though there is that 0.1% drop in economic growth,” Mbadi said.
He defended the recorded 4.6% growth rate, saying it remains a strong performance for an economy of Kenya’s scale.
“And I want to point out that 4.6% growth for an economy of the size of Kenya is not small,” he stated.
Mbadi added that expectations for higher growth must be weighed against global realities, noting that even large economies grow at modest rates.
“Yes, we would want a slightly higher or better economic growth of 5% and above, but that growth of 4.6 is not small for our economy,” he said.
He pointed out that major economies such as the United States and China also post relatively low growth rates due to their size and maturity.
“I want to give you an example. If the American economy grows even by 1.5%, that’s big. Even 2% is significant. It’s not realistic for the US economy to grow at 4% because of its size,” Mbadi added. “The Chinese economy is the same.”
His remarks come amid ongoing national debate over the direction of the economy, with the government maintaining that structural reforms and sector recovery efforts are beginning to show results despite global uncertainty.